For two weeks, Eric basically spent frequent meetings with Marvel management, during which Katzenberg also traveled to New York in person to attend several more important meetings. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After repeated discussions during this period, the company preliminarily determined the basic organizational framework and film development plan of Marvel Studios.

Marvel Studios will be completely independent of the Firefly Group's film and television production system, and will be responsible for the development of film and television works for all superhero characters under Marvel Entertainment together with the planned future Marvel TV production company. At the same time, Eric will personally serve as the producer of all the comic book adaptation films in the first phase of Marvel to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan.

In terms of film production, Marvel Studios will largely emulate the standardized industrial processes of the Hollywood studio era, and all production crews, including producers, directors, and actors, must follow Marvel's overall style and will. In order to achieve as much cost control as possible and maintain the sustainability of the comic book serialization film development program, all core characters of Marvel Studios must sign long-term packaging contracts.

At the same time, Eric is no longer pursuing the radical strategy of Marvel movies blossoming across the board.

In the preliminary plan for the cinematic universe, only the Avengers story line has been determined for the time being.

As for projects such as X-Men and Fantastic Four, Eric decided to wait for the successful implementation of the Avengers plan and Marvel movies to gain enough influence before starting the production of other series.

In the original time and space, it was the great success of Marvel's Avengers program that completely activated all Marvel's IPs and led all Marvel's superhero brands into their heyday. Until then, except for Sony's Spider-Man, other Marvel comic movies could not be considered too successful. Especially in the X-Men series, in Eric's opinion, the X-Men, who have a large number of rich characters, were completely screwed up by Fox, the character creation was not focused, the timeline was reversed, and most of the sequels of the entire series were only at the box office.

Marvel's big gold mine, the Firefly, will definitely not be able to dig up, and Eric will still adopt the strategy of cooperating with other studios.

However, the premise of all this is that Marvel Studios must still have enough control over the development of the project and more profit sharing.

But even if Firefly has a close relationship with Fox and MGM, if it can't prove the huge potential of Marvel superheroes, the cooperation between the parties will not be so smooth, so the success of the Avengers will become the key to affecting the development plan of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Firefly has signed a contract with Cameron for "Spider-Man", and due to the success of "Titanic", using Cameron as the director of "Spider-Man" seems to be contrary to the production principles that Marvel Studios has just determined. But in fact, Cameron belongs to the kind of technical commercial film director who pays attention to the visual perception of the film, and the films he directs have always focused on the story rather than the artistry, and the positioning of Marvel movies is also a popcorn movie relying on superhero IP and movie special effects, and the two sides almost coincide.

Of course, with Cameron, the cost control of "Spider-Man" is certainly impossible, but these are equally acceptable compared to the profits that Cameron may bring from directing the film. However, there are some downsides, and that is that in the future, people will definitely attribute the success of "Spider-Man" to Cameron.

Therefore, in order to prove the commercial potential of Marvel superheroes, Marvel Studios had to produce a standard Marvel superhero movie according to the established plan while filming "Spider-Man".

As for which superhero to choose, there is naturally no need for any hesitation for Eric.

"Tony Stark is a very counterculture superhero, he is egotistical, arrogant and crazy, but he is also a genius, an inventor, a billionaire and a playboy. This is a very malleable character, and as long as he is handled properly, he will definitely look charismatic on the big screen. ”

During the meeting at Marvel headquarters, Eric finished briefly stating his views, looked away from the memo in front of him, looked up at everyone, and continued: "Moreover, Iron Man is still a second-tier hero, if the movie is successful, it will undoubtedly prove the great value of Marvel superhero characters, and I am very confident in this project." Moreover, even if it really fails unexpectedly, it will not have too fatal impact on the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe system, and we still have many first-line characters to try......"

As he said this, Eric felt that everyone looked at him with a strange look, especially Stan Lee next to him, and the old man was smiling very obscenely.

Subconsciously touching his cheek, Eric wondered, "Why are you looking at me like this?"

With an inexplicable smile on everyone's faces, Stan Lee spoke: "Eric, according to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark was born in 1969. ”

According to the original comics, Tony Stark was born in the forties, and according to the principle that the movie timeline roughly coincides with reality, he should be in his fifties by now, which will definitely not work, so it must be reset. In other words, the new version of Iron Man will be much younger than the Downey version of the previous life, according to the planned release date around 2000, the new Tony Stark happens to be about 30 years old, which is undoubtedly the most attractive stage for men.

Eric nodded suspiciously, he had read the plan for the cinematic universe drawn up by Marvel's creative department many times, and also provided a lot of revisions based on memory, of course he knew this.

Stan Lee saw Eric nodding and continued to smile and say, "So, Eric, you see, you were born in 1970, just a few days, right?"

Eric immediately understood Stan Lee's intentions and shook his head without hesitation, "Stan, don't even think about it. ”

Stan Lee was reluctant to give up so easily, and said, "Eric, don't be so eager to refuse. As you know, I was inspired by Howard Hughes when I created Tony Stark, and you're exactly like him, no, no, no, you're better than him, so why not try this character, it's made for you. ”

"Come on, Stan, I'm paid $60,000 a minute now, I can't afford it myself, let alone you. ”

"Hey, look, conceited, arrogant, and a little crazy," Stan Lee laughed more obscenely, like a big bad wolf, "So, Eric, you're Tony Stark, or you wouldn't have picked this superhero for the shoot in the first place." ”

"Now, in this way," Eric didn't bother with the old man's nagging, closed the folder in front of him, and said, "In the future, you can use 'Eric Williams was interested in playing Iron Man himself, but Stan Lee strongly disagreed' as a publicity stunt." ”

Everyone laughed.

Stan Lee also laughed a little: "Eric, you're reversing black and white. ”

"Of course, black and white must be reversed, who would be interested in normal news, so decided. I'll be back in Los Angeles next week to start the pre-production of the film, give you a month, get the first version of the script out, and that's it, the meeting. ”

Eric made the final decision, and everyone knew that the matter they were secretly discussing must be out of the way. Everyone who had been looking forward to it let out a sigh of disappointment, and they could only get up and leave the conference room one after another.

It's not that Eric is not interested in playing Iron Man at all, but once he does, this superhero movie is likely to become his ticket in the hearts of the audience, which is definitely not a good thing, and it is also very bad for the layout of the entire Avengers plan.

After consoling the disappointed Stan Lee man, Eric stayed at Marvel headquarters until the end of the day before leaving the office with Avi Arad.

Arriving at the underground parking lot of the office building, Eric saw the gorgeous fiery red Maserati next to his car, and Cindy Crawford waving and smiling at the side of the car. Perhaps in recent years, his career has been revitalized again, and the supermodel, who has just turned 30, looks more and more radiant.

Avi Arad glanced at Cindy Crawford, with envy in his eyes, and took the initiative to flash with interest.

Eric walked over, stroked the hood of the Maserati, and smiled, "Nice car." ”

Cindy was wearing a black trench coat with a corset, high boots on her feet, and a light-colored silk scarf tied around her white neck, and she posed quietly, "What about the man?"

"Prettier," Eric smiled and hugged Cindy, not getting into his black Bentley but into the Maserati co-pilot.

Cindy wanted to get into Eric's car, but when she saw him in her car, she turned to the driver's seat and got into the car, started the engine, and saw Eric comfortably leaning on the co-pilot, and happily suggested, "Why don't you drive?"

Eric laughed: "I'm more suitable for driving a Humvee now, and it has to be military." ”

"Why?"

"It's an advantage when you hit something. ”

"Hehe," Cindy smiled, and also understood, Eric must rarely drive by himself now, and Hand was absolute, no longer mentioning this topic, starting the car and slowly driving out of the parking lot, before saying, "I have set a place at Jean-George's restaurant, go eat first?"

Eric nodded, "Okay, I'll listen to you tonight." ”

Cindy complained, "Besides, it's really hard to ask you once, so I waited two weeks." ”

In New York, Eric inevitably receives various party invitations from the Snakes, most of which can be pushed down, some of which cannot be postponed, and he has a party almost every night these days. It was also about to leave, and Eric had time to spare.

Listening to Cindy's tone with a little resentment, Eric smiled: "You're in such a hurry to ask me out, don't you even have a new boyfriend now, this is not your style." ”

Cindy hit the steering wheel and turned her head to look, "Don't you want me to be single all the time?"

"I wish you were married now, it would be more exciting. ”

"Bah, damn man," Cindy gave him a blank look before saying, "I tried dating one, I thought it was too boring, and we broke up at the end of last year." ”

"Heh, it looks like the vision has increased," Eric quipped with a laugh.

In my memory, Cindy passed the peak of her modeling career, and during this period she tossed a "fair game" in Hollywood, which did not cause any waves, so she quickly relented and married a nightclub owner in New York and had children. I have to say that compared with most supermodels who are difficult to settle down until they are no longer in style, Cindy can probably be regarded as a winner in life.

But now, thanks to Eric's appearance, Cindy's life trajectory has completely deviated from the trajectory of her previous life. A series of identities such as the spokesperson of Victoria's Secret Angel and the producer and host of "American Supermodel Competition" have also revitalized her career. Her current annual income is not much worse than those Hollywood first-line actresses, and even surpasses it, correspondingly, her mind is destined to be impossible to settle down.

The two went to Jean Georges' restaurant on Fifth Avenue, sat down to order, and chatted casually about some recent developments.

Waiting for the waiter to deliver the dishes and leave, Cindy said with a casual expression: "I also bought a fireflyer recently, and the assistant took the goods directly from the black market, 400 dollars, I didn't expect that the little things you made could get the treatment of contraband." ”

It was the first time Eric had heard of such a thing, and said with a smile: "Earlier, I'll have someone give you a few." ”

"How dare I trouble you with such a trivial matter," Cindy smiled and added, "I saw yesterday that Firefly Electronics was sued?"

"Well, Chris has already flown to San Francisco to deal with it, it's not a big problem. ”

"I thought so too," Cindy nodded, "I read the article where the record company gets a share of the Yahoo Music Store as much as it does from physical records." Even, because of the convenience of the Internet, if the online music store develops, the record companies can get more, then why do they react so aggressively?"

"It's just the surface," Eric doesn't know why Cindy is suddenly interested in this kind of thing, but explains anyway: "The music industry alone doesn't have more than $20 billion in annual revenue worldwide, but the music player market is much bigger." This also involves the issue of patent monopoly, traditional portable player patents are basically in the hands of Japanese manufacturers, a complete set of player patent licensing fees, the price will not be less than 5% of the player's selling price, this alone, Japanese companies can get more than one billion dollars of net income every year. The emergence of Fireflyer is equivalent to completely breaking the patent monopoly of traditional portable music player manufacturers, and even, once Fireflyer becomes popular and eliminates devices such as Walkman, the patents of Japanese manufacturers worth tens of billions of dollars will be worthless, so their reaction will be so strong. (To be continued.) )